Bloody early call for filmmakers

Guts, monsters, murderers and nudity all make for a good time
at the B-Grade Horror Fest

Horror fans get ready for the sixth annual B-Grade Horror Fest,
and with more and more filmmakers catching the chocolate sauce blood craze,
festival co-founder Feet Banks is putting out an early call this year.

“I think the fest is so popular because it’s very honest about
what it is,” he said. “There are none of the bells and whistles that usually
accompany an event in Whistler. It’s just a bunch of locals with cameras having
a good time and watching their movies with their friends. No one is expecting
an Oscar winning performance; it’s B-grade and that just makes it that much
better.”

The B-Grade Horror Fest challenges filmmakers to make short
films typical of the B-grade genre.

The 15-minute-or-less films are produced in the style of the
1950s and 1960s horror film genre made famous by classics such as Devil Girl
From Mars and Door to Door Maniac. B-grade horror movies are anything but
standard Hollywood flicks. B-grades are all about making a film on a nickel and
dime budget and packing in as many horror film clichés as possible, such as
zombies, aliens, monsters, murderers, blood, guts and — always an audience favourite
— token nudity.

Anything goes, whether leaving audiences with their arm hair
standing on end or splitting a gut at low-brow humour.

“Horror is cool because fear, as an emotion, is somewhat
universal,” Feet said. “We’re all so different (in our tastes for comedy and
love), but take almost anyone, put them in a dark house with a homicidal maniac
wielding a chainsaw and they’ll be shitting themselves. Certain things are
scary to almost everyone, and that is why the horror genre is still alive and
kicking.”

Laughs, as opposed to screams, generally dominate the festival
screenings, but it’s the bone chillers taking Best of Show over the past few
years.

The winner walks home with the gleaming Skull of Horror, the
festival’s infamous silver skull trophy that opens to reveal a hidden rye
bottle and six shot glasses. Prizes are also awarded to best actor and actress.

This grassroots festival, now entering its sixth year led by
Banks and co-conspirer Chili Thom, continues to grow with entry numbers
doubling since the first year. The event also sells out every year within a day
of ticket release. Locals can’t get enough of the short frights.

“‘If you make it, we’ll show it’ is the motto for the fest and
hopefully we can keep that going this year too,” he said. “People roll in there
expecting to laugh and have a good time and that’s what they get. Chili and I
are very hands-on, the whole thing started because we wanted to show our weird
ass little movie and I think that personalized enthusiasm carries over to the other
filmmakers and the audience. Sure you can win the coolest looking trophy ever
and a small cash purse, but in the end, it’s really all about having fun, not
selling anything. And unfortunately that kind of attitude is getting harder and
harder to find in this town.”

So if filmmakers are looking for a grassroots adventure and an
outlet for their “weird ass little movie” register by contacting Feet at
feet@heavyhitting.com
.